Welcome to Original Watermen; feel free to check out our boardshorts and Watermen Shorts! We are not just another ocean/surf brand; we are the tried and true minority of watermen who understand the importance of quality equipment and water apparel that accelerates your water potential! With experience in big wave surf and the water community as a whole, you can trust we have earned our salt! Check out our Hybrid Boardshorts, retro trunks and classic styles. If you're a lifeguard, check out our men’s lifeguard shorts section.

The perfect pair of boardshorts is easily the most important apparel item for any Waterman. With so many options to choose from, it’s good to know the differences and advantages from one pair of board shorts to another. Maybe you call them boardies or baggies, maybe you’re old school and call them trunks or just plain shorts; but the key is to choose a material and fit that best suits your application.

For starters, men’s board shorts come in several different materials. Supplex Nylon is great for durability and drying time, but is better suited for ocean use as opposed to pool use, because the color will fade over time. Sanded Polyester Microfiber is a great all-around material. It is durable, lightweight, and resistant to chlorine. Then we get into the high-tech 4-way stretch fabrics used in our Watermen Super Stretch Boardshort and Pro Stretch Boardshort. The combination of Polyester and Spandex creates the perfect amount of give that makes your boardshorts fit and perform better in all environments. In addition, our 4-way stretch fabric dries in minutes and can withstand months of abuse from sun, sand, and chlorine.

Now that you’ve figured out what material will work best for you, it’s time to pick the most appropriate style. Boardshorts like the Pro Stretch Boardshort have a fully elastic waist and built in Cool-Plus liner. Other men’s board shorts like the Hybrid Boardshorts find a middle ground between fixed and elastic waists. The Hybrid has about 3 inches of elastic on both sides, which gives them the aesthetic of a traditional fixed waist boardshort, but the fit and sizing scale of an elastic waist short. These hybrid boardshorts do not have a built in liner. Finally, the most common and traditional style of men's board shorts is the classic fixed waist. You’ll know right away that the boardshorts you are looking at are fixed waist because they are sized numerically as opposed to small, medium, large etc. Also, all fixed waist board shorts do not have a built in liner either. However, we’ve got you covered with our base layer Watermen Short to solve that problem.

Using an elastic waist, as opposed to a fixed waist, is more of a personal preference thing, but the elastic waist option is great for younger Waterman, that are still growing, or for some of us that tend to fluctuate around the waistline!